The Storm Through Syria I

After the decisive battle at Tarsus, Edward had taken control of the entire province of Cilicia and had taken an important port for the Antony. Now it became difficult for him to make a naval landing, giving more time for Commagene to expand.

The first thing Edward did was invite Octavius to the port at Tarsus so that he could take more provinces on the Eastern side, blocking Antony from Commagene. Octavius happily agreed to it and marched through Lycia, capturing all the cities, and then up to Sinope.

Meanwhile, Commagene's army was marching through Syria.

***

Roman Syria, 31 BC

"What are we building this for Edward?" Antioch couldn't help but ask.

"It's going to be a fake castle. We're being chased from either side at the moment, and this will trick the Romans into thinking we split our forces. The armies North of here will encounter this castle and we'll face those in the South with half of our men," Edward described.

Edward had used a tactic from the 10th to 11th century - the Motte and Bailey castle. A castle built on a hill with houses below it, all defended by a wooden fence.

"Why would we only show them half of our forces?"

"You'll see."

***

10 days later, the Roman army arrived at a small, wooden castle that stood on top of a hill. It was impressive that they had built such a castle in such a small amount of time. Nevertheless, it wasn't going to last much longer.

"Men, light your arrows," the commander shouted.

Just then, a voice shouted from the castle.

"Wait! We surrender!"

The commander turned his head to see a group of about 10 men, holding their arms up in surrender.

"A wise decision."

The army began to march into the area of houses (Bailey) and searched the houses for supplies, however they found nothing.

It was at that moment that one of the guards realised he was walking on some kind of liquid.

"Alcohol?"

That was when all of the soldiers realised the entire Bailey was covered in it.

Then, a bright orange light flew through the sky and stuck to the ground right near the entrance. It was a flaming arrow.

Everything was suddenly engulfed in flames as it quickly spread. The fences were first to light up and completely trapped the Romans, leaving them to burn.

A few managed to climb onto the hill, but were quickly shot down by the men in the castle.

Despite killing about 1,500 men in this attack, there remained about 3,500 outside of the castle.

In response to this, about 50 men on horses rode towards the remaining Roman army, who had been completely taken by surprise, from behind the burning fence. Each of them threw as much alcohol as they could at the army before turning back around the fence again.

Then, they heard the stomping of hooves again as another 50 men on horses rode towards them. However, this time they carried bows and flaming arrows.

The horse archers let the arrows fly and the flames erupted, killing everything in its path.

The soldiers screamed out in pain as flesh became crisp or liquid and blood boiled inside of them. Of course, not all of them had been burnt by the flames, and over half remained when the fires died down. This time they were on guard for any attack.

Unfortunately, they weren't on guard for arrows raining down from the castle. Inside of the castle was a ballista and while two people manned it, the other 8 began firing with regular bows.

In spite of their preparation, they were still taken by surprise once again as they hastily grabbed their shields to defend. Most weren't lucky and failed to grab their shield in time, overwhelmed by the storm of arrows.

Then, the men on horses attacked them again, this time carrying swords. They quickly sliced the Romans as much as they could and then retreated behind the fence for another volley of arrows. After the volley of arrows, they would attack again, and then retreat, repeating the cycle again and again.

Under the wave of attacks, the Roman army eventually crumbled, and it was victory for the small Commagene force. About half of their force was killed, but it remained a legendary victory.

***

Elsewhere, the bulk of the Commagene army was marching South through Syria.

"Are you sure they'll be victorious?" Antioch anxiously asked Edward.

"Yes. I am."

Edward was not so confident in his military tactics, it was more to do with his own use of magic. Firstly, he had set up wards around the castle to drain energy from the Romans, and the alcohol was enchanted to burn faster and more deadlier. On top of that, he had created a ward to attract them into the Bailey to maximise the amount who were killed in the first attack.

No matter how much Edward reassured him, Antioch kept worrying about it.

They continued moving for another couple of hours before it began to get dark, and the wind became harsh, as it whistled through the trees.

"We'll stop now. Start digging," Edward ordered Antioch, who relayed the message to the army.

The soldiers all began to get to work digging a ditch on the slightly sloped ground. The ditch was going to be long and about 2-3 metres wide, with rows of spiked sticks inside it. Luckily, it wasn't difficult to dig because they were in the Eastern parts of Syria, near the coast, meaning the climate was more Mediterranean rather than a desert.

"Alright, set up camp!" Antioch instructed.

Over the next couple of days, they built the ditch and Edward commanded the soldiers to attack the surrounding villages and towns to force out the Romans.

On an early morning, as the sun began to lift in the sky, the soldiers on watch at the camp saw a large group of silhouettes on the horizon. They were slowly getting closer and closer.

"They're here! The Romans are here!"

The soldiers shouted at the top of their lungs across the camp, alerting everyone to prepare for battle.

All of the soldiers in the camp frantically got their armour on and weapons ready, preparing for the battle. Half of Commagene's force split off from the main army, halving again as one part went to the forest on the left and the other to the forest on the right.

During this, Antioch and his most important followers - including Edward - rode to meet the Roman force in the distance.

When they arrived, the Roman commander had a smug look on his face.

"Have you come to surrender?"

"No," Edward answered.

"Does this chattering animal speak for you King of Commagene?" the commander asked mockingly.

Antioch took a deep breath.

"Yes."

The Roman commander began to laugh.

"Pathetic. You had a small victory at Tarsus, and now you think you can rule the world. You are nothing more than a petty king," he sneered.

"We'll see," Edward retorted.

The group rode away as the Roman commander glared furiously at their backs.

"Keep that man alive," he snarled, pointing to Edward, "I want to see if he's so cocky after defeat."